Posted: Sat, May 25, 2024, 12:06 PM ET (1606 GMT)
Blue Origin launched its first crewed New Shepard mission in nearly two years Sunday, but the flight was not without incident. The suborbital vehicle lifted off from the company's West Texas site at 10:35 am EDT (1435 GMT), landing back at the site nearly 10 minutes later after reaching a peak altitude of 106 kilometers. During the capsule's descent, one of three parachutes failed to open fully, but the company noted the spacecraft is able to land safely with two parachutes. The NS-25 mission was the first New Shepard flight to carry people since August 2022 as the company recovered from a mishap on a payload-only flight in September 2022. The flight carried six people, including Ed Dwight, selected in 1961 as the first Black astronaut candidate but who did not get a chance to fly to space until now.

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